Esther 4

Mordecai and the Jews mourn with sackcloth, fasting, and weeping. When Esther learns of it, Mordecai sends her the decree and urges her to plead with the king, warning that she will not escape merely because she is in the palace, and that “if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place.” His challenge is unforgettable: “who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther asks all the Jews to fast with her for three days, resolving, “if I perish, I perish.”